Guy Gannett Communications, Inc.

135 of 141 DOCUMENTS

January 24, 1997, Friday, AM cycle

Psychiatrist sentenced to 30 years for murder

SECTION: Domestic News

LENGTH: 159 words

DATELINE: PROVIDENCE, R.I.

A psychiatrist apologized to relatives of the man he murdered during a gas station confrontation, then was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.
David Barrett, who had faced up to life behind bars for second-degree murder, tried to make eye contact with relatives of Joseph Silvia as he spoke in court, but they looked away.
“I am extremely sorry for the anguish I have caused you,” said the 33-year-old man, who was diagnosed as manic depressive. “I am responsible for that – not my psychiatrist, not my parents. Whatever my condition was, manic or sick, I am responsible.”
Barrett’s family attended the sentencing but did not speak. His father, Laurence, a retired Time magazine political reporter, and brother, Paul, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, declined to comment.
The murder occurred July 18, 1995, at a Mobil station in East Providence. Silvia was shot when he intervened in a dispute between Barrett and the store clerk.